


Dreaming

by PeaceLilies



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Dreaming, F/M, Grief, Loss, M/M, Maternal Instincts, Purring, Scenting, Shiro drops an F-bomb, Xenobio, mate instincts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-19 02:15:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29867619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeaceLilies/pseuds/PeaceLilies
Summary: Krolia dreams
Relationships: Keith's Father/Krolia (Voltron), Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 19
Kudos: 41





	Dreaming

**Author's Note:**

> I was just having a lot of sad thoughts about Krolia and Tex today and wrote a little something to feel better about it. It was cathartic. 
> 
> Maybe I'll write something a little more cheerful for them in the future...an AU where they're together TToTT until then, please enjoy this humble offering

Krolia stood a few feet away from the stoop leading up to the familiar house in the middle of the desert. Her arrival had been as subtle as she could have made it and so it wasn’t a surprise to not see him waiting for her on the porch. 

She was nervous, which felt so silly, because she was fighting in an intergalactic war, on the front lines...undercover. But something about seeing him again...about seeing their child after so long...filled her with anxiety. 

_What if he’s angry with me? What if our son doesn’t remember me? What if there’s someone else…?_

She took a deep breath, steeling herself, and crossed the distance to the stoop, walking up the steps, and knocked on the door. She swallowed reflexively, only waiting a few minutes, which felt like an eternity, before the door opened. 

Krolia stood there, vulnerable, as Tex looked back at her on the other side of the threshold. He hadn’t changed much in the four years that she had been gone. Perhaps a little more tired looking, but still strong and handsome. 

They stared at one another and she opened her mouth to speak, before deciding against it and just threw herself into his arms. She had spent the last four years burying her mate pull. Leaving Earth had been and would always be the hardest thing she had ever done, necessary though it was. It had felt like she had split her heart in two, carrying a never easing pain with her wherever she went. 

Being back here now, seeing him, feeling him again, was the balm she had been sorely needing. 

Tex was stiff against her for only a moment, shock she hoped, before he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close and tight. She felt him rest his cheek on her head and he squeezed her to the point of physical discomfort. 

“Daddy...who is it…?” came a small voice from behind Tex. 

Krolia couldn’t help her gasp, eyes popping open as she looked beyond his shoulder to see a small child there in the foyer. 

He had grown so much, but was still so small. His hair was black and cowlicked, his tiny hands wrapped around a small, plush toy, _hippo_ her mind supplied, and big indigo eyes watched them curiously. Tex’s eyes. 

Tex’s hold on her eased and he turned, both of them looking at their son. 

“Keith…” Tex said and Keith blinked his big eyes, clutching his hippo closer. 

“M-mama…?” 

Krolia couldn’t stop the tears that sprung to her eyes, a hand coming up to cover her mouth. She hadn’t allowed herself to hope...he had been so young when she had left...just about a year old…

“It’s okay,” Tex murmured to her, letting her go, and Krolia stepped forward. She went slowly, coming down to her knees so she was on Keith’s level, right in front of him. 

“Kit,” she murmured, “Keith...I’m your...your mama…” 

Keith blinked at her, eyes darting to Tex, who had come to stand next to her, joining her on the floor. 

“It’s alright, kiddo,” he encouraged and Krolia held out her arms. It didn’t take Keith long to decide what he wanted to do, launching himself into her arms, his toy hippo forgotten. 

“Mama,” he said in his tiny voice, nose pressing to her neck, gently scenting. He probably didn’t even understand what he was doing, pulled by instinct, but he would know her by smell. Krolia wrapped her arms around her baby, holding him as close as she could. She breathed him in, nose burrowed into his thick hair. 

She felt like she was coming back together again. Tears dripped into her son’s hair as she held him close and tight.

Tex’s arms wrapped around them both and she tucked herself into him, starting to purr without even realizing, feeling Keith’s own tiny purrs mimicking her own. 

“He does that all the time...with me...and I wish I could do it back,” Tex murmured and Krolia turned her face up to nose against his cheek, pressing kisses to his skin. She turned her head down to kiss Keith, too. 

She was complete. 

***

Not much had changed and yet everything had. Her clothes were still in the same drawers and hanging up in the closet. The refrigerator was covered in Keith’s childish artwork, toys strewn about, a small bed was in what used to be an office, the crib packed away. 

There were a few pictures of her, before she had left, images that Tex had shown to Keith, so he knew her in some form. There was an entire album of just Keith, pictures of him as he grew. All the things she had missed. His first words, his first steps. 

There was so much that she needed to know, that she needed to explain, but all she wanted was to hold her baby. She showered, changing into her old Terran clothing, and then spent the rest of the evening holding Keith. He was a good boy, seemingly content to be in his mother’s arms even after being apart for so long. He asked her about her stripes, her pointed ears, her pink and purple hair. 

He asked where she had been and if she loved him.

He was inquisitive and smart...funny, too. Krolia could see herself in him, despite the childish roundness of his face, but his eyes were his father’s. The exact same color and shape and she could look at him forever. 

Keith eventually fell asleep in her arms and she was loath to place him down, but knew it would be necessary. She tucked him into bed, stroking back his hair, kissing his forehead. Tex hadn’t left her side and the two of them went downstairs. There was so much they needed to talk about. 

But they didn’t even get to talking, kissing and undressing on the couch, much more eager for each other. She had been craving this for four years, to be with Tex like this again. 

“I missed you,” she said against his mouth, “both of you. So much. More than I could bear…”

He smoothed a hand over her hair, thumb stroking her cheek. 

“But you’re here now,” he said, leaning in to kiss her once more. 

***

Krolia woke with a start. Her heart hammered in her chest and she could feel tears on her cheeks. She pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes, trying to calm her breathing, ground herself. 

She was on Earth, in her son’s guest bedroom, visiting him and his husband. She let her hands flop to the side of her head, staring up at the unfamiliar ceiling for a few moments as she collected herself. 

She always thought about Tex. His passing and absence from her life was a dull ache that she had become good at ignoring. But he would still come to her in dreams and her heart broke with the loss. 

So much that she had missed, so much time that had passed. It had been necessary. She knew that. She did not regret her choices, but she still felt the emptiness all the same.

She didn’t think she’d be able to go back to bed, so she got up, wandering out into the hall, and down to the kitchen. There was a soft light coming from that direction and as she reached the end of the hall, she saw why.

Shiro was awake it seemed, leaning over to look into the refrigerator. He stood up, a bottle of water in one hand, and he closed the door, turning and jumped. 

“Oh fuck,” he hissed, a hand resting over his chest, “Krolia…”

“Sorry, Shiro. I didn’t mean to scare you,” she said apologetically, “I didn’t realize anyone else was awake.” 

Shiro sighed, shaking his head, offering her a soft smile. 

“It’s alright. I’m usually not up this early, just having trouble sleeping tonight, I guess,” he said. 

She nodded in understanding. 

“You’re not alone in that,” Krolia hummed, “mind if I grab some water as well?”

Shiro held out his bottle to her, smiling. 

“Not at all. Here, take mine,” he said, “we have plenty.” 

She accepted the water bottle with a soft ‘thank you’ and Shiro grabbed another. She drank most of the bottle, twisting the cap in her fingers. 

“Shiro...this may be a strange request but...can I see my son?” she asked. 

Shiro watched her with a soft expression, his white brows knitted together. She wasn’t expecting him to understand exactly, as he was very much Terran, but Shiro was a good man. A good mate for her son. Worthy. 

“Of course. He’s still sleeping probably. I’m going to do a meditation before trying to get back to bed so…” 

Krolia nodded, offering him a smile, and a gentle touch to his arm. 

“Thank you.” 

Shiro smiled once more. 

“You’re welcome.” 

Krolia headed up the stairs to another part of the house, to the largest bedroom. She pushed the door open, seeing Keith’s sleeping form under the blankets on the large bed. She went over to his side of the bed, resting her hand gently on his side as she crouched down by the bed. 

Keith’s eyes opened immediately and blinked at her. He smelled different nowadays. Still the familiar scent of her kit, but mixed with Shiro’s scent now, too. 

“Mom…?” he said, voice scratchy with sleep. 

Krolia just looked at him, taking in the familiar planes of his face that mirrored her own, and his father’s beautiful indigo eyes. 

“Everything okay…?” Keith asked, moving to sit up a little. Krolia nodded. 

“Just...wanted to see you,” she said softly. 

Keith’s eyes tracked her face and he nodded his head once. 

“Okay,” he replied, simple as that. 

“Shiro’s doing a meditation before he comes back to bed,” she explained and Keith smiled. 

“Mmm,” he replied, “he was tossing and turning tonight. Told you guys that that blue cheese had too much blue and not enough cheese.”

Krolia chuckled, shaking her head. She stroked her hand through Keith’s fringe. His hair was so long now, his plait disrupted from sleep as she ran her thumb and index fingers over it. 

“I love you, kit,” she said softly, kissing his forehead, nuzzling into his hair, scenting him a little. 

“I love you, too, Mom,” Keith sighed, settling back on the pillow, taking her hand, “you gonna be okay?” 

Krolia squeezed his hand and nodded, offering him a gentle smile. 

“I am now.”


End file.
